Operation Holiday: Mother who served in Iraq works to provide for 2 children

Spending even a day apart from your baby is unthinkable to some parents.

For Andrea, not only was she away from her 4-month old son, Gavin, and 1 year-old daughter, Theresa, for many months, she was away from them in a combat zone.

Approximately four years later, Andrea, whose name and the name of her children have been changed to protect their privacy, just retired from the Army National Guard. She served in Iraq at Camp Tajii which is situated in the unstable Sunni Triangle region of the country.

“I kind of missed it when they were young and would need me to do things for them,” Andrea said. “Now, they’re like, ‘We got it, Mom.’”

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Andrea’s mother took care of her children while she was deployed.

“Definitely, (I missed them). Especially with my son, I missed the whole first year of his life,” she said. “When I was sitting at home (after my tour of duty), he’d come running up to me and it was like, ‘Since when can you do that?’”

Now out of the service, Andrea is a waitress, a job she really enjoys.

“I’m pretty good at it,” she said. “I love it.”

Andrea said the job can be difficult (“People stiff me sometimes, even when I’m being nice.”) but the consistent activity of it appeals to her.

“It’s just, I’m constantly moving and I’m not bored,” she said.

As Christmas approaches, however, Andrea recognizes that things might be difficult, especially since she’s trying to move to a new area.

“It’s kind of rough,” she said. “There’s no yard for the kids and no playground that isn’t filled with drug dealers.”

As a part of The Mercury’s Operation Holiday, Andrea will at least have a little extra for her children while she saves up for a new place to raise her children.

Now in its 22nd year, Operation Holiday has provided a brighter holiday season to thousands of families with children. Last year, more than $50,000 in donations allowed the program to provide food and gifts for 227 families including 601 children.

This year’s list of families referred by local service agencies is already at 237 families with 629 children.

There is no overhead with Operation Holiday and all funds stay in the Pottstown area. Families are referred by local agencies and churches.

Funds are collected and audited in a non-profit foundation account managed by staff of The Mercury.

Food, which includes the fixings for a holiday dinner as well as staples for the pantry, is ordered, bought, packed and distributed by Mercury employees.

Gift cards for every child in the program 16 years of age or younger are purchased through Boscov’s and distributed in partnership with the referring agencies.

Operation Holiday does not accept families who have not been referred by an agency in order to protect the integrity of the program.

Operation Holiday is funded solely by readers’ contributions. All contributions are tax deductible.

Contributions may be mailed or brought to the offices of The Mercury, P.O. Box 484, Pottstown PA 19464. Make checks payable to Operation Holiday.